Ricky Nelson's twins honor father at Cache Creek

It was the seventh grade and twins Gunnar and Matthew Nelson were head-scratching their way through prep school trigonometry.

Up at 3:30 a.m. to get tutored by 4:30 a.m. just to maintain a "C" average.

Gunnar Nelson knew his destiny. And it wasn't math.

"All I wanted to do was rock," he said.

There was no denying the genetics. His grandparents were TV stars Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. And his dad was Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer Ricky Nelson.

"I always knew what made me excited, what made me jump out of bed in the morning and stay in the studio to 5 in the morning," Gunnar said. "I always had that."

The Nelson twins were 18 when their dad died in a plane crash New Year's Eve, 1985, en route to a Texas gig.

"He lived and died rock 'n roll, doing 300 shows a year up to the day he died. The man loved it," Gunnar said.

And now, some 23 years after their own tune, "Love and Affection," topped the Billboard charts as the duo, Nelson, the two elevate their dad's music with "Ricky Nelson Remembered," a multi-media show and concert at Cache Creek Resort Casino on Saturday.

What was intended to be a one-shot tribute has lasted 13 years.

"We were going to wind things down but more and more people are coming to the show," Nelson said. "It's stood the test of time."

It all started on a military base for a commander who was a Ricky Nelson fan.

"There were all these troops, 18, 19 who had no idea who Ricky Nelson was," Gunnar said. "But it went over incredibly well."

What started as "a simple concert with a couple of guys playing songs," evolved into "this whole multi-media stage play."

"It's 10 years of people giving that feedback of what's working, what's not," Nelson said. "We cut what's not serving the show with an emphasis on what is. It's much more than when it started."

The twins have already outlived their famous father, a fact that never strays far, Gunnar said.

"I remember being 18 when he died and feeling, 'That's really young,' Now, I think, 'My God, that's young.' He had such an amazing life. Since I hit 45 last year, it's been surreal, to say the least."

Since then, "it's good for me and Matthew to look at what's really important in life and find that balance."

And they definitely didn't want to create any kind of cheesy tribute show.

"You hear 'tribute' and you think a guy in an Elvis suit," Gunnar said.

The Nelsons undoubtedly never fall short on tunes.

From 1957 to '62, Ricky Nelson had 30 Top 40 hits, giving the Nelson brothers plenty of material plus some of dozens of their own songs to sift through including five Top 40 efforts.

Still, there's no cruise control, Gunnar insisted.

"You can't coast. We're trying new songs all the time," he said.

Only each concert's final song won't change, he said: "Just Once More," a tribute to their dad.

"That's one song that helps keep this show from becoming 'just a gig,'" Gunnar said. "You see people come full circle and get connected."

Because of their dad and celebrity grandparents, the twins started performing at 6, entering the Los Angeles club scene at 12 and signing their first record deal at 19 growing up in San Fernando Valley.

One week they freely could buy socks and underwear "and nobody would look at us twice," and a week later an entire mall was shut down because they hit No. 1, Gunnar said.

"It was a really interesting time for me and Matthew," said Gunnar. "All we were trying to do was get our job done. It was crazy."

Growing up influenced by the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, The Hollies, and Flying Burrito Brothers, the Nelsons "determined what was going to make us special," Gunnar said. "We asked ourselves, 'Why would a kid go into a record store and single out our record? What's our message? What is our sound that makes us unique? We tapped into that California folk thing."

Even after years as "Nelson" and doing the "Ricky Nelson Remembered" program, Gunnar said music isn't the easiest profession to master.

"Anybody can find a much easier way to make a living," he said. "This is not for the feint of heart. But I love making music more than anything else."

Ricky Nelson always had that softer image than Elvis, said Gunnar, which often made him more acceptable.

"Elvis turned off a of parents. Ricky didn't," he said. "Pat Boone turned off a lot of kids. Ricky didn't. He was the guy that embodied what we all want as rockers."

Gunnar would be the first to say his father wasn't perfect. There was substance abuse, plus a nasty public divorce, though Gunnar blames his mother.

"Our family should have fought privately like most families," Gunnar said.

Still, "say what you want about my dad, he was always authentic, always himself," Gunnar said. "His songs were slammin', his band was slammin'."

The purpose of performing for the generations of Nelsons has never changed, Gunnar said.

"Three hours to forget about rent, the boss who's riding you, forget all that stuff," he said. "And I come from a line of people that's been doing that for 120 years."

If Ricky Nelson survived, "he'd be proud of the fact we were able to avoid being Hollywood statistics," Gunnar said, thrilled that he can look behind himself on stage and see a huge image of Ricky Nelson.